How To Begin Companion Planting: Simple Ways to Grow More Food

Companion planting can feel overwhelming when you first start gardening. One chart says tomatoes love basil. Another says never plant this near that. Before long, it feels like you need a horticulture degree just to plant a garden. At its core, companion planting simply means growing plants together in ways that help your garden thrive. Some plants attract pollinators, some discourage pests, and others help you use your growing space more efficiently. In this beginner companion planting guide, I’ll show you how to begin companion planting practically without getting buried in complicated charts and rules.

What is Companion Planting?

Companion planting is such a broad term, so don’t get discouraged by the amount of information out there!  In simple terms, companion planting is planting two different plants together to form a beneficial relationship between them.  A quick search will give you lists and lists of what plants work well planted together.  While those can be useful, they can also be overwhelming.

Some information will have you thinking only certain plants can be planted together.  In my experience, that is not at all true.  When you begin to companion plant, don’t worry about the lists that say plant this with that. Instead, there’s a few things to consider that will help you make your own decision on what will work best.  These considerations will also help you decide which of your plants will work well planted together.

Before you start companion planting, it helps to understand your local growing conditions. If you’re new to gardening, read my guide on growing seasons for beginners and learn how growing zones affect planting decisions.

How Companion Planting Can Help Your Garden

If there’s one thing you can gather from the overwhelming amount of information on companion gardening, it’s that it can help your garden.  But how does companion gardening help improve your garden?  This is not an exhaustive list, but these are ways companion planting has helped me.  Using it, I’ve not only helped my plants thrive but also grown more than I ever thought possible in the same amount of space.

Using Garden Space More Efficiently

If you are more of a traditional gardener, you might plant your crops in rows.  Each plant in a row is spaced a minimum distance apart, with rows farther apart.  This mimics large scale, traditional farming and big agriculture.  Other methods of gardening have been developed, now, that are more efficient in using garden space.

One of the popular space saver methods of gardening is the square foot garden idea developed by Mel Bartholomew.  I’m a big fan of this planting method.  It’s not perfect, however. It does allow you to plant more in a smaller space, but it does not take companion planting into account.

Companion planting works especially well in small gardens because it helps you layer crops together instead of wasting space between rows. If you want to maximize production in a smaller area, read my guide on how to grow more food in less space and the best high-yield vegetables for small gardens.

Encourage Pollinators to Visit

Most of the vegetables we plant in our gardens require some kind of pollination.  There are exceptions, such as most root crops and members of the brassica family (broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, etc.). Tomatoes can get by without pollination if they’re exposed to wind or anything that can shake the plant.  Corn is entirely wind pollinated.  But everything else requires pollination by a pollinator.

The most famous pollinator is the bee.  Some species of wasps, beetles, flies, hummingbirds, and even bats can also pollinate plants.  

Companion planting is an excellent way of attracting these pollinators to your garden.  Planting flowering plants in close proximity to each other gives pollinators a reason to visit that area.  If the plants cover a wider area, the pollinator may choose to skip them and visit a place with easier access to food instead.

Planting flowers, especially, is a great way to attract a variety of pollinators to the garden.  Flowers often attract beneficial insects, such as pollinators, to the garden and help your vegetables thrive.  Some flowers can also do double duty by keeping some of the destructive insects away.

Invite Good Insects While Discouraging Pests

We’re all familiar with the most desirable insect in your garden, the bee, and we’ve talked about other pollinators in the section above.  But there are other beneficial insects that are good to have around.  

Insects such as ladybugs, some wasps, and other predator type insects are ones we like to see in the garden.  These insects aren’t going to be pollinating your plants, but they will be on the lookout for other insects that are there to eat your plants.  

Healthy seedlings and healthy pollinator activity go hand in hand. Strong plants are naturally better able to handle pest pressure and environmental stress. Read how to harden off plants and when to transplant seedlings to give your plants the best start when moving them into the garden.

In my area, and many others, aphids are a big problem.  Aphids love to attack tomatoes, leafy greens, dill, and many other plants.  Ladybugs love aphids, so planting things that ladybugs like can help bring them in to deter and eliminate any aphids.  Chives, dill, cilantro, marigolds, and calendula are just a few plants that tend to bring in ladybugs.  Dill is liked by both, and I’ve experienced it getting attacked by aphids and bringing in the ladybugs to eat them. 

Planting certain plants with others can also ward off pests.  Planting lots of marigolds around cabbage and other brassicas may help deter cabbage moths.  Flowers and alliums, members of the onion/garlic family, tend to be really good at deterring unwanted visitors.  If you’re battling larger pests, like deer, planting deer resistant plants along the edges of your garden may help steer them in another direction.  8 foot high fences help with that, too, but those can be expensive to build.

Bunnies are a popular garden pest.  Planting strong smelling plants throughout, such as lavender, marigolds, and onions/garlic may help push them off to munch somewhere else.

Creating Support and the Ideal Environments

What does this mean?  It means using companion planting to pair plants together that can give the other plant what it may need.  The idea of the “3 sisters” planting is very popular and derives from Native Americans.  3 sisters planting puts corn, beans, and squash together as the perfect trifecta of companion planting.  The corn grows tall and can act as a trellis for the beans to climb.  The squash can grow and cover the ground around the beans and corn.  Each provides a benefit to the other.

Some plants can also help support other plants by creating the ideal environment for that other plant.  Using cucumbers, for example.  Cucumbers are a vining plant and if you trellis them, you can create a microclimate underneath the trellis.  This area won’t have as much sun, and as a result will end up cooler than the surrounding areas.  This could be the ideal place to put lettuce, spinach, or other leafy greens that like cooler temperatures.  You could potentially increase the season for these vegetables just by using the cucumbers as a sun shade through the summer.

That could work with any vining plant, cucumber is just an example, and it could also work with other colder season crops like carrots, beets, and other root crops.

Flavor Enhancer

This is controversial and I debated leaving it out.  But there are people that swear by it so I thought it might be worth a mention.  Some gardeners say that planting certain plants, like basil and tomatoes, together enhances their flavor. I have not experienced that, but I also haven’t tried planting for it.  I plan on planting basil and tomatoes together this year.  I’ll update this post if I feel the basil boosted the flavor of the tomatoes.

Simple Companion Planting Chart

Vegetable	Good Companion Plants	Why They Work Well Together
Tomatoes	Basil, marigolds	Attract pollinators and may discourage pests
Cucumbers	Dill, nasturtiums	Bring beneficial insects
Carrots	Onions, chives	Strong scents may deter pests
Lettuce	Radishes, carrots	Efficient use of garden space
Corn	Beans, squash	Classic “Three Sisters” support system

If you’re looking for something a bit more involved, this companion planting chart from One Creative Mommy is quite detailed.

What NOT To Do When Companion Planting

There are many things on the “to do” list when companion planting, but there are also a few things to avoid.  

Spread of Disease and Pests

Some plants are prone to the same diseases.  For example members of the nightshade family such as tomatoes, eggplant, and potatoes are all prone to blight.  If you plant these plants together, you may be increasing the risk of your plants catching blight and then easily passing it on to the other plants.

Same thing with powdery mildew.  I’ve found squash is particularly susceptible to this disease so spacing out your summer/winter squash as well as cucumbers may help prevent it from spreading.

Plants plagued by the same pests should not be planted together.  Planting cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower together will give the cabbage moth an abundance of choice on where to lay eggs.  Spreading these plants out is also a way to confuse the moth and prevent damage by the cabbage worm.  Picking something else to companion plant with a group of cabbage, such as marigolds, could save your crop.

Pairing Plants With Similar Needs

When choosing which plants to plant next to each other, you should consider each plant’s individual feeding, watering, and space needs.

Nutrients

Some plants are heavy feeders while others need a lot less nutrients to grow.  For example, tomatoes and squash are heavy feeders and require a lot of nitrogen to grow.  Pairing them together, or with another heavy feeding plant such as okra or melons, will put them in direct competition for nutrients in the soil.

Instead, consider pairing heavy feeders with lighter feeders, such as many root crops and leafy greens.  These plants don’t require as high of a nutrient load so there will be less competition between the plants.  That means happier plants that are more likely to thrive next to each other.

Water

Water is essential for all plants to survive, but some need more than others.  When you begin companion planting, consider each plant’s water needs.

Many warm season vegetables such as tomatoes, squash, and beans tend to do well without a lot of water once the plants are established.  This is because they’re roots grow deeper into the soil looking for water.  There are some exceptions like corn.  Corn is shallow rooted; it needs a lot of water because the roots will not go looking for it deep in the soil.  

Cooler season crops, like broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and turnips also tend to require a lot more water to thrive.

Pairing a vegetable that requires a lot of water with one that does not can cause the one that does not to develop disease, pest problems, and cause overall decline of the plant.  Too much water for some plants can even hinder its ability to take up nutrients from the soil.  Tomatoes, for example, have a hard time taking up calcium when they’re over-watered.  This leads to a condition known as blossom end rot.  

Space

Competing for space goes hand in hand with competing for nutrients.  Plants need to be able to spread their roots and collect the nutrients from the soil they need to thrive and produce fruit.  

Planting too close together can also affect how much sunlight each plant gets and the amount of airflow through the plants.  Per the example above, pairing a vining plant like cucumbers with a smaller plant that needs less shade and cooler weather like lettuce can work perfectly.  If you pair it with a sun- and heat-loving plant like peppers, you’ll stunt the pepper plant, and it probably won’t produce well—if it produces at all.

Make sure when you choose which plants you are planting together that each of them will receive the amount of sunlight it needs to thrive.

Airflow between plants and branches of a single plant is essential to reduce the risk of fungal diseases.  If air can’t get through, the leaves of the plants tend to hold moisture on the surface.  This moisture encourages fungal growth, which could kill the entire plant.  It may also invite other diseases to take hold, or pests to move in, as the plant health deteriorates.

Common Companion Planting Mistakes Beginners Make

One of the biggest mistakes beginner gardeners make is treating companion planting charts like strict rules they have to follow. Most gardens are far more flexible than the internet makes them seem.

A few common mistakes include:

• overcrowding plants
• pairing plants with very different watering needs
• ignoring mature plant size
• planting tall crops where they shade sun-loving vegetables
• trying too many companion planting combinations at once

Start simple. Pay attention to what works in your garden and adjust over time. Gardening is less about perfection and more about observation.

Frequently Asked Questions: Begin Companion Planting for Beginners

Q: What is companion planting and how does it work?

A: Companion planting is the practice of growing certain plants together so they can benefit one another. Some plants attract pollinators, some help discourage pests, and others improve airflow or help maximize space in smaller gardens.

Q: Does companion planting actually work?

A: Yes, companion planting can absolutely help improve your garden, especially when combined with healthy soil, proper watering, and good spacing.

Many gardeners use companion planting vegetables to:

• attract beneficial insects
• improve pollination
• reduce some pests naturally
• maximize production in raised beds and small gardens
• create shade or support for neighboring plants

Think of companion planting as one helpful gardening tool instead of a guaranteed fix for every problem.

Q: What vegetables grow best together?

A: Some companion planting combinations are especially beginner-friendly because they are simple and practical to grow together.

A few popular pairings include:

• tomatoes and basil
• carrots and onions
• cucumbers and dill
• lettuce and radishes
• corn, beans, and squash

These combinations work well because the plants either support each other physically, attract pollinators, discourage pests, or use garden space more efficiently.

Q: What plants should not be planted together?

A: Not every plant combination works well in the garden. Some plants compete heavily for nutrients, attract the same pests, or can slow each other’s growth.

Some common examples of plants that should not be planted together include:

• beans and onions
• tomatoes and corn
• fennel near most vegetables
• potatoes and tomatoes

Many beginner gardeners get overwhelmed trying to memorize every “bad” combination from a companion planting chart. Instead of focusing on complicated rules, pay attention to plant spacing, airflow, sunlight, and watering needs first. Those basics matter far more in most gardens.

Q: Is companion planting good for raised beds?

A: Companion planting works especially well in raised beds because it helps you maximize growing space without overcrowding your plants.

This approach helps small gardens produce more food while also supporting healthier plant growth.

Q: What flowers are best for companion planting?

A: Flowers play a huge role in companion planting because they attract pollinators and beneficial insects into the garden.

Some of the best companion planting flowers include:

• marigolds
• nasturtiums
• calendula
• alyssum
• zinnias
• borage

These flowers help bring bees, butterflies, hoverflies, and predatory insects into your garden. Many gardeners also use them to fill empty spaces in companion planting layouts while adding color and diversity to the garden.

Q: Can companion planting reduce pests naturally?

A: Companion planting can help reduce pest pressure by attracting beneficial insects and creating more diversity in the garden.

Strong-smelling herbs like basil, mint, dill, and chives are commonly used in companion planting gardens because many gardeners believe they help confuse or discourage certain pests. Flowers like alyssum and dill also attract predatory insects that feed on aphids and other garden pests.

Q: How do I start companion planting as a beginner?

A: The easiest way to start companion planting for beginners is to keep things simple.

Choose:

• one or two vegetable pairings
• one pollinator flower
• one herb to mix into your garden beds

For example, you could plant:

• tomatoes + basil + marigolds
  or
• cucumbers + dill + nasturtiums

That is enough to start learning how plants interact without making your garden feel overwhelming.

Q: What is the easiest companion planting combination for beginners?

A: Tomatoes, basil, and marigolds are one of the easiest companion planting combinations for beginners because they grow well in similar conditions and are easy to manage together.

This combination is popular because:

• basil attracts pollinators
• marigolds add biodiversity
• tomatoes benefit from improved pollination activity
• all three fit well in raised beds and small gardens

Q: Can you companion plant in a small garden?

A: Absolutely. Companion planting small gardens is one of the best ways to increase productivity without needing more space.

By pairing plants carefully, you can:

• grow vertically
• use shade more efficiently
• attract more pollinators
• reduce wasted space between crops

Small gardens actually benefit from companion planting because every square foot matters. A thoughtfully planned companion planting garden layout can often produce far more food than rows of single crops spaced far apart.

Q: Do herbs make good companion plants?

A: Herbs are some of the best companion plants because many attract pollinators while taking up very little space.

Popular companion planting herbs include:

• basil
• dill
• cilantro
• thyme
• oregano
• chives